Evangeline Lilly (Hearts) the Tabloids, Because Rude, Inconsiderate Paparazzi Jerks Need to Eat Too

Got a phone call last night from Evangeline Lilly (the star of ABC's "Lost" and #73 on FHM magazine's just-released 2006 list of The 100 Sexiest Women in the World -- the very same roster that somehow placed Teri Hatcher ahead of "Desperate Housewives" co-star Eva Longoria and couldn't find a spot at all for the stunning Portia de Rossi, perhaps due to a little-known "No Lesbians" rule).

Anyway, the subject with Lilly was the forthcoming Primetime Emmy Awards campaigns and voting, but I pushed the sweet, down-to-earth Canadian native to go off topic a bit. Now you'd think that if anyone might have a nice beef with the tabloids, it would be Lilly, whose reported on-set romance with "Lost" co-star Dominic Monaghan and penchant for sunning herself on the beaches of Hawaii wearing only a couple of flimsy pieces of cotton has turned her into something of an unwitting trash-journalism sensation. But instead, Lilly has decided to make peace with the fact her privacy has been effectively co-opted by every two-bit shutterbug looking to make a buck off of her candid likeness (including one she had to have arrested for stalking).

"If you allow these people to rule your life, they have power over you," Lilly told me. "And I mean, frankly I hate the attention of paparazzi. But if someone can make a living off of me, hey, that's kind of cool. Maybe I shouldn't be saying this, but if I can indirectly help put food on the table for a family just by letting someone take my picture, I mean, that's really kind of a great thing. It's the way I help make sense of it all, anyway."

She harbors the same humanitarian philosophy about autographs. "I get warned, 'Careful, they're just going to sell it on ebay.' And I think, 'Well, good for them!' If they can make money off of something it took me 30 seconds to write, more power to 'em. Maybe it's just because I'm naive. But my reasoning is, I've got better things to think about, you know?"

Lilly had just better watch herself. This could inspire a run on healthy perspective in Hollywood. Then where would we all be?